🔴 BRISTOL GANG KILLER CAGED FOR LIFE: MINIMUM 34 YEARS FOR TEEN MURDER
Zachariah Joel Talbert-Young, 27, born 12 October 1998, formerly of Easton, Bristol, has been sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum term of 34 years for the murder of 19-year-old Eddie Kinuthia and the attempted murder of another teenager, Nathan Williams.
At Bristol Crown Court yesterday, Mr Justice Pepperall handed down the life term after Talbert-Young was convicted in October of murdering Mr Kinuthia on 21 July 2023 and, while on bail, attempting to murder Mr Williams in Lawrence Hill on 15 March 2024.
The judge ordered that the minimum terms of 34 years for murder and 20 years for attempted murder run concurrently, meaning Talbert-Young will serve at least 34 years before the Parole Board can consider release.
Paul Hayden, 22, of Hanham, Bristol, received a concurrent life sentence for the attempted murder of Mr Williams, with a minimum term of 17 years and 136 days. Hayden had previously been acquitted of involvement in the murder of Mr Kinuthia.
The court heard that Mr Kinuthia was ambushed and stabbed up to six times as he walked near his home on Grosvenor Road Triangle, St Paul’s, shortly after a community event attended by around 150 people.
Talbert-Young arrived on an electric bike, dressed in black and wearing a mask, before launching what the judge described as a “horrific” and “merciless” attack.
A single five-inch wound to the teenager’s thigh severed the femoral artery, causing catastrophic blood loss from which Mr Kinuthia died in hospital.
Mr Justice Pepperall ruled that the murder was linked to an ongoing postcode feud between two Bristol gangs known as the 1-6s, associated with east Bristol, and the 2-4s, linked to St Paul’s.
Talbert-Young was closely associated with the 1-6 group, while Mr Kinuthia was regularly seen with members of the 2-4s.
The judge described the rivalry as a “senseless round of tit-for-tat killings” that had come at an “all-consuming cost”.
Eight months later, while on conditional bail for the murder, Talbert-Young and Hayden carried out a separate knife attack on Nathan Williams in Lawrence Hill.
Mr Williams survived multiple stab wounds.
In her victim personal statement read to the court, Eddie Kinuthia’s mother, Irene Muthemba, addressed the defendants directly from the witness box.
She told them they had denied her son the chance to grow, learn from his mistakes and discover the world.
Ms Muthemba urged those involved in knife crime to “choose love over hate” and told the defendants to inform their friends that carrying knives was “sad and weak” rather than “cool”.
She highlighted the wasted potential of the defendants, noting that the smart suits they wore in the dock were bought for a murder trial rather than a graduation ceremony.
Detective Chief Inspector Mark Almond of Avon and Somerset Police, who led the investigation, welcomed the sentences.
He praised the patience and dignity shown by both families throughout the lengthy proceedings and paid tribute to the support provided by residents in St Paul’s, which he said had proved invaluable to the inquiry.
The convictions, he said, meant two dangerous individuals would remain behind bars and that knife crime destroyed lives and devastated families.
Talbert-Young showed no reaction as the sentences were passed.
He must serve the full 34-year minimum term, minus 136 days already spent on remand, before any application for parole can be considered.
